Two players with endless talent at different stages of their careers. Two friends and practice partners that know each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the snooker table. Two players that would meet in a final for the very first time. And hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last. Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski battled through the Top 32 in order to reach the final of the World Grand Prix, and it turned out to be quite a show.
Breakdown
Okay, for the first half of the match it may not have seemed this way. In fact, the proceedings were playing out in a way some would have predicted. And that is Trump’s match-play and dominance taking centre stage over his practice rival. Trump established a 3-1 lead, aided by breaks of 75 and 122 in Frames 1 and 4, while taking advantage of Lisowski’s misfortunes in the following frames.
Lisowski was still showing some nerves for the remainder of the afternoon session as Trump was able to double the score-line to lead 6-2 going into the evening session. Lisowski did have his chances in the afternoon session to pinch some of these frames, but couldn’t capitalise in the manner that Trump did against him. This was worsened by Lisowski losing the cue ball on a break of 53, and then Trump coming on the table to steal the frame to extend the lead to 7-2.
At this point, many were thinking this was going to be a 10-2 finish, which is what made the following even more joyous to watch. Lisowski rallied to put the pressure on Trump in a way which hasn’t been done to him since his rise to dominance. Lisowski hit Trump with a four frame blitz, reeling off 99, 112, 87 and 95 in the subsequent frames – with ease. Neil Foulds said it best on commentary: ‘before, Lisowski was playing in a final and now he is just playing snooker.’ Or something along those lines.
All of a sudden, the 7-2 score drastically reduced to 7-6, and Trump had gone a substantial period of time without potting a ball. Although, if there’s something that Trump has become quite adept in, it’s closing out a match (case in point, all of his NI Open finals against O’Sullivan). He realised that he couldn’t allow Lisowski to draw level, which led to an incredible steal involving an excellent second-to-last red and an even better cannon on the final red (watch it).
Despite Lisowski’s best efforts, he was only able to secure one further frame as Trump showed his excellence once again in his ability to counter attack. Trump closed the match out and claimed his third ranking title of the season with a 10-7 victory.
Afterthoughts
Many thought that when the pandemic started and Trump got stopped in his winning tracks, he wouldn’t be able to replicate or even come close to reproducing that level of success. Trump has definitively shown why he is the best in the world, not only in his wins (which I imagine doesn’t stop here), but in the manner in which he does it. Frame 4 was the perfect example of how even a decent break off shot just isn’t enough to stop Trump from potting and clearing the table. In addition, his snooker knowledge has improved so vastly, particularly in his ability to pick out plants and escape snookers (both shown in Frame 5).
And this is where Lisowski is aiming to reach. In terms of potential and talent, Lisowski is right there with Trump. If anything, when it comes to cue ball control, I’d argue that Lisowski has a tighter rope on it over Trump, which makes watching him in rhythm, like he was in Frames 10-13, so enjoyable. And also irritating, given how easy he makes it look.
A lot of Lisowski’s errors come down to shot selection. In some circumstances, he tries to pot himself out of danger, which only works a certain number of times. But when it doesn’t, he often leaves the table on for his opponent. However, he’s getting better with time and experience, as he’s shown all of this week. His impressive revenge against Selby in the semi-final proved that he can withstand a comeback from any opponent. And his exhibition shots can perhaps match Trumps one day (watch his shot in Frame 13 – unreal).
Nevertheless, it was a stellar performance by Lisowski, and the kind of performance he would want to bring out against the best in the world. Not only would this help test where his standard sits, but also pulse on the radar of the other top level professionals that come across him going forward.
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